The Tour Striker and its partner in crime Tour Striker Pro were developed by PGA Professional Martin Chuck. I’ve spoken to Martin many times through e-mail and online forums but never tried his product. I think he’s developed something that will really help the majority of golfers produce an impact position that anyone can be proud of. Along with this comes more distance and consistency of flight and contact.
His invention is the Tour Striker and Tour Striker Pro. Coming down the road is also a Tour Striker X and Tour Striker Wedge. Here are some pictures of the Tour Striker and Tour Striker Pro.
Tour Striker and Tour Striker Pro
Tour Striker and Tour Striker Pro from Front
You can see from the pictures that these clubs look a little different. These clubs have the leading edge and first few scoring lines of the club beveled off as well as some of the toe. The Tour Striker Pro is beveled a little more aggressively making it more difficult to hit well. Why are these clubs designed this way? The purpose of the beveling is to force the golfer to create sound impact alignments. If the club is not in the right shape, the player will not be able to get the ball in the air. So, what shape should the club be in when it strikes the ball? Take a look at this picture to see:
Correct Impact Shape
If you didn’t know the club was supposed to look like this when it hit the ball, now you do. The handle end should be leaning toward the target for every standard iron shot. You can see from the above picture that only when the club is in this position does the clubface get into a position to get the ball in the air.
I used the Tour Striker Pro for the first time last week and was very impressed. I can say that I dribbled a couple too. I will stall my pivot every once in a while and flip the club through impact. Whenever I did that with this club, it looked like a cold top. Good impact alignments with good shaft lean toward the target produced good shots. No confusing feels. I think I did it there. Just cold hard results. Top or flight.
I see this club as the answer to bridging the time between lessons. If we are working on this aspect of the swing, I can be confident that the student can not fudge the results. Produce the right shape and the ball will go. Produce the wrong shape and the ball will not. I would recommend, as Martin does, to practice from tight fairway lies to get the most benefit from the club. Try it on a lie board for an even harder test.
I give the Tour Striker Pro rave reviews and will be using them in my teaching on a regular basis.
Click on any of the images above to see the products available from Tour Striker.
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Great article. I’ve bookmarked this website so I can follow your follow-ups. Thanks for taking the energy to share this.
Norman,
Thanks for that and I hope you find my future and archived posts useful and entertaining.
John
Hi John,
I just stumbled across this post. Thanks for the support! I appreciate it.
Martin
You bet Martin. Great product.
When will the Tour Striker Sand Wedge be released?
What could I say about this article? It’s just fantastic. Keep on posting!
I think you have developed something that will really help the golfers produce an impact position that anyone can be proud of…see more here
Mitsubishi Golf Shafts
Well I just got my TS Pro 5-iron 2 days ago and have now hit 2 buckets of balls (1 yesterday and 1 today)……and I already love this club. Despite mis-hitting many shots (especially at first), I’m already hitting more solid, penetrating shots more consistently. In 2 sessions, I can feel my tempo improving along with an increasing sense of effortlessness…even though the balls are flying straighter and farther already.
What this ingenious concept does (I believe) is bypass the thinking brain and directly teach ones nervous system and muscle memory how to correctly execute the golf swing. So instead of thinking about how to swing the club, you can’t help but learn to feel a proper swing …… and this is what you automatically start doing as you work with it.
This may very well be the most effective training aid ever developed…in my humble opinion. I love it and look forward to using it toward continuously improving my swing.
PS…I’ve been playing for 20 yrs and have yet to break 90….despite being a fairly athletic and coordinated guy……..nothing as of yet has felt as promising to me as the improvements I’ve noticed in just the last 2 days of using this club….NO KIDDING !!
I recommend it wholeheartedly.
John,
I agree. I use it almost everyday in my teaching to help people do instead of think. It works wonders that way.
John
I like very much the picture “Correct Impact shape” in your document. It is speaking, and it describes exactly to the reader what is expected when using that club.
Great review.
Thanks for nice comment. I hope you read other posts as well.
John
I thought I’d leave some feedback about my impressions on the Tour Striker:
About me first, I play to a 12 handicap and have been playing golf for just over three seasons (this is my second season playing A LOT of golf). I love the game, I wish I had played from a young age, but for whatever reason I didn’t even pick up a club until 2006. Since then I’ve been hooked.
I used the Medicus Iron before and that helped me groove a swing when I was first learning the game, but didn’t help me with ball striking – which I feel I’m servicable at, at best.
Enter the Tour Striker. I’ve been using it for two range sessions now and I have grooved (intuitively) a very descending swing that has me really compressing the ball. And let me tell you, before when I thought I “hit that on the screws” — I now realize I wasn’t even close. It feels like running a knife through warm butter when you hit this club well, it really does.
I bought a lie board and was using that but honestly I found it exceptionally easy to make solid contact (maybe it’s the visuals of the board, but just like hitting off of mats, it doesn’t help me when I transfer from there to grass). So I am now hitting it off of extremely tight grass on my Range (live in NH and it’s rained very little, the grass is as hard as concrete). Since doing this I’ve noticed it giving me the best feedback especially when I hit my own iron.
My tendency has been to use my athleticism to hit the ball, and usually I take my eye off of it. With irons you can get away with it, but not with this club, it forces you to stay in your swing. Also as someone earlier mentioned, it forces you to maintain a good, smooth (almost effortless) tempo. When you create fluidity with your body, arms, and the club it gets you in the right position and the ball explodes off of the club.
When I go from this club to my Irons I try and picture the Tour Striker appearance which forces me to hit down, and I notice it really helps dial me in to the sweet spot of my Irons. I play X-100 shafts and the clubs I use are a lot heavier than the Tour Striker which I guess would be my only complaint but it’s not a big deal.
My goal was to be a sub ten handicapper by next year, this club will get me there, no doubt. Anyone looking to take the next step in their game, this will help. Highly recommend it.
Thanks for the great comments. Weak shaft is the only complaint I’ve heard of. Glad to hear it is helping. I think it is a great aide.
John
i own the pro shop @ st andrews golf club in trinidad
west indes
i would like to stock your training aide
do you have deale discounts ?
please advise
robert delaney
Follow this link for further information.
http://www.tourstriker.com/contactus.aspx
Hey,
I found your website on yahoo.
It is very nice. Keep it working and you will got thousands of visitors every day.
Thanks
Best wishes
Thanks for the kind words Carson.
I’ll try.
JG
Which club would you recommend for a woman? I was an 11 handicap, now a 15. Struggled all last year. My son thinks I’ve lost the hitting down on the ball that I used to do. I’m 64 but still fit and reasonably strong. Thanks for your input.
Sending this for all the “senior women” out there!!
Thanks!
Louise,
Thank you so much for the comment and I hope you are passing along this blog to all the “senior women” out there. =)
If you feel like you’ve lost the hitting down part, the tour striker will rebuild that action. It is not designed to replace the irons you have. Rather, its to rebuild the proper action. After you can successfully hit the Tour Striker, go back and use the irons you’ve always used. I would recommend getting the ladies/junior version to assure the proper length, weight and shaft flex.
The best thing about the tour striker is that you can’t get a good result with poor technique when used off a fairway or tighter lie. When practicing with it, be sure not to use it in the rough. You’ll get the most benefit from using if off of low, tight grass.
JG
The best training aid I have found lately is the Club Pro. I saw this on the Golf Channel and ordered it from http://www.clubpro.tv. It comes with an instructional DVD by Ron Cerrudo. It is very reasonably priced at 29.99. Absolutely a must for any serious golfer and a great learning aid for a beginner.
Joe,
I went to the website and respectfully disagree that that training aid should be recommended to anyone. Two sticks is not a training aid.
John
The Tour Striker looks like the real deal. Martin Chuck is a nice guy from brief online interactions. I heard he just left his job at a high end golf club in Bend, Oregon to dedicate himself to full time promotion of the Tour Striker.
Considering the vast majority of mid and high handicappers scoop the ball to get it airbourne, this club will be one weapon against that deadly flaw. Or you could just make sure to always have a fluffy lie in the first cut of rough.
Nick,
Yea. I’m a big fan.
I’ve had lots of success with it.
It’s true about leaving the club.
JG
I actually got amazing results just from visualizing my club heads were shaped like the tour strikers. I still can’t believe that I’ve finally stringed together five solid days of consistent compression on the ball. I still pull the ball a bit but I’m getting much better.
I’m a serious student of the game and have always had issues with hitting my short irons straight left and not taking a divot after the ball. I will likely end up purchasing one or two of these clubs just because I know it will provide the best feedback during practice. I don’t see any other training aid even coming remotely close to the tour striker. Clicking on the buy button now